


Exploding Reys

by Blueyedgurl



Series: Fluffy one shots [12]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Inspired by Fanart, Mild Hurt/Comfort, POV Ben Solo, Rey Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26126380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueyedgurl/pseuds/Blueyedgurl
Summary: So this is based off of @reyreybutt 's exploding Rey art because I don't understand how there isn't a story about this yet.But when Rey gets sad she tends to explode and her boyfriend Ben doesn't fully understand what that means until he witnesses it first hand.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Fluffy one shots [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849954
Comments: 15
Kudos: 74





	Exploding Reys

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ReyreyButt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReyreyButt/gifts).



> https://twitter.com/ReyreyButt/status/1151140218533076994?s=19
> 
> https://twitter.com/ReyreyButt/status/1181223870616915969?s=19
> 
> The above links will take you to see the art! You won't regret it!

Ben and Rey started off dating just like anyone else. They had met online and found out one of Rey’s co-workers had been friends with Ben growing up. After the first few dates of dinner and drinks it evolved into fun dates of laser tag and bowling. They never even stepped foot in a movie theater. Ben found it refreshing.

As they became more serious, official even. Ben offered for her to watch movies at his place since he had a nice TV with surround sound. But she always found other things for them to do instead, she even taught him how to play cribbage. Sometimes, he found it a bit odd that they had been together for 6 months and they had yet to watch a movie or TV show together. Even when she spent the night at his place, she would often find things to distract herself, or him and the next thing he knew the TV was off. 

He couldn’t even remember if he had seen a TV the few times he had stayed at her place. When they were there, she would cook for him and they’d spend their time walking through the park across the street or in bed. He didn’t have any complaints for how they spent their time. 

But it was still strange, once he turned on the TV for some background noise while he cooked them breakfast only for her to come out of the shower, take one look at the TV and disappear back into the bathroom for the next half hour. When she finally came out, she claimed that she didn’t feel well and went home. 

He thought he had done something wrong, so he was surprised when she actually texted him back the next day. They made plans to go to an apple orchard and go back to Ben’s after. Things felt normal again, thankfully. Ben knew he was falling for Rey and dreaded the moment he would find out she didn’t return his feelings. He knew he could be a bit intense sometimes and moody at others but she didn’t seemed to mind and was often an open ear for him to talk about what was bothering him. 

He knew a few things about her past, but not enough to say he knew her well. What he did know made him realize that she was cautious of new people in her life and he didn’t blame her. He could be cautious as well. 

“Ben I just want to say I’m really sorry for the other day. I know I left abruptly but I was embarrassed.” Rey said as they put away the things they got from the orchard.

“Rey, it’s fine you didn’t feel well.” He told her, she continued to wring her hands nervously and bite at her lower lip.

“No, you don’t understand. I have the tendency to…. Fall apart when I’m sad.” She said hesitantly her eyes shifting to the side nervously. The way she said it made it sound like a bad thing, or that it was unexpected to for someone to be overwhelmed by sadness or even depression. 

“Rey, you’re allowed to be sad, it’s ok.” He tried to reassure her but that seemed to only distress her more and she began to pace the kitchen. “What made you sad? Did I do something wrong?” If he did, he really wanted to know. He didn’t want to upset her, especially if it was something he could control. 

“No! You’ve been nothing but lovely, but you turned on the TV and there was that song for the ASPCA commercial and… well… It made me sad.” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she looked down at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know, I’ll be more careful… wait is that why you won’t watch TV or movies with me?” It made sense if she was sensitive, but his understanding was that those commercials made everyone sad. He didn’t see what the big deal was. 

She bit her lip guiltily and nodded slowly.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t more upfront with you. I thought it would be rude of me just to kind of fall apart and explode all over you without you knowing what you were signing up for.” She crossed her arms a bit defensively but still visibly nervous.

He still didn’t get what the big deal was. So, what if she got sad? He could handle it. He got sad too sometimes and he was man enough to admit it. Granted the years of therapy helped with that. 

“Look, whatever it is. I really like you and I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide from me.” Ben said softly as he stepped towards her. He hoped to convey what he felt and decided to just go for the whole thing. “I love you.”

Rey’s arms dropped to her sides and her eyes got wide, and a smile slid across her cheeks.

“You love me?” She asked him, as if she didn’t quite believe him.

He nodded dumbly her smiles always interfered with his thought to speech process. 

“I love you, too.” She said, beaming at him and he had no idea how much relief and joy that little sentence would bring him.

She stepped towards him and he wrapped his arms around her. As strong as Rey was, she always felt so fragile and delicate in his embrace. She reached up on her toes to kiss him and he leaned down to give her better access. She cupped his face before pulling back, her thumb affectionately tracing over the scar on his cheek. 

“I’ll watch a movie with you, but it has to be funny.” She said firmly. He grinned and he knew his dimples were showing.

“Ok. But really there’s no need for you to be embarrassed to feel things.” He said. 

“I think you’re underestimating the consequences of me being sad.” She said wryly. He couldn’t help but notice that her eyes were sad when she said that.

“Hmmm, we’ll see. Let’s go get ice cream first, yeah? I feel like our first I love you’s deserve some celebratory ice cream.” He knew his girl loved food.

That got her smiling again.

“Ooo, that does sound good. Can we go to the place down the block? They have the best flavors.” 

“Sure.” He readily agreed and grabbed his keys on the way out the door.

They held hands as they walked the block to the ice cream shop. The walk was unrushed, and he savored having Rey in his presence and the feelings of her loving him back. He knew he was probably grinning like a fool but didn’t care. He was one when it came to her.

The shop was a bit crowded, so they had decided on getting their ice cream and walking back home. Ben got a dish of strawberry and Rey got triple berry in a chocolate dipped cone. They held hands on the walk back, Ben trying but failing to eat his ice cream without a spoon just to keep in contact with her. 

Things were going so nicely, better than Ben ever could have anticipated.

That was until they walked through the front door and the toe of Rey’s flip flop got caught on the lip of the threshold. Rey and her ice cream cone went flying. Ben dropped his own trying to catch her and that’s when it happened. 

Rey exploded into tears and disappeared. It was the strangest feeling to try to put your hands around someone only to have them dissolve into nothing. Like a ghost, like smoke. He found himself panicking. He broke his girlfriend, quite possibly the love of his life. He desperately searched around him to see what cosmic joke this was. Was he dreaming? Was he hallucinating? Was Rey even real?

“Rey?!” He called to no avail. His heart was racing in his ears and that’s when he heard the high-pitched squeaky voice. He looked around him and noticed that Rey didn’t disappear at all. In fact, there were now several Reys. Now he really thought he was dreaming or hallucinating because this just couldn’t be real. Except the way his heart was racing and the ice cream melting on his kitchen tile was all very real.

She apparently hadn’t exaggerated. Rey had exploded or rather, several tiny Reys took her place. 

He counted 6 altogether, not taller than the length of his palm. Thy reminded him of the Christmas elves that used to hang from his grandmother’s Christmas tree. 

The 6 Reys were all identical, wearing beige wraps and khaki colored tops and pants. Her hair was in the three buns he had seen her in on occasion. His mouth was open in shock and he didn’t quite know how to process this information. 

He took note of each one. Each had its own distinct mood. There was an angry Rey that stomped on the broken shell of her cone, a sobbing Rey that did her best to scoop up and eat the ice cream that wasn’t touching the floor. A despondent Rey that just laid immobile on the floor and stared at the ceiling, if he hadn’t of seen her blink, he would have thought she had fainted or worse. Then he noticed there was an affectionate Rey who was trying to soothe him by standing on his shoulder and kissing the scar that crossed his cheek. There was also an anxious Rey on his other shoulder chattering away about what had just happened, but he was too overwhelmed with everything to really be able to understand her. Then he saw the disgusted Rey that seemed to glower at the mess that was on the floor. 

When Rey said that she exploded he thought that she really just meant ugly crying or something. Now he understood her apprehension to be sad in front of him. How long had she been living like this? Avoiding sad movies and TV. Having to keep her distance in relationships. This must have been quite a shock to those who had been in her life before him. Then he thought back to how she said she had been abandoned as a baby and wondered how this fit with it. 

He told himself that he wouldn’t be like that. He already resented her parents for leaving her to the winds of fate. He would stick with her, even if things didn’t work out between them.

Unsure of what to do he gently scooped up each induvial Rey, or tried to, the angry one tried to bite him and was very nearly successful. He gently placed them on the kitchen table while he cleaned up the ice cream. The angry Rey climbed up the table to be with the other Reys, leaving little ice cream footprints in her wake. The anxious one still chattered away while she paced on the table. He noted that she spoke with her hands a lot. 

The affectionate one looked rather distraught when he tried to remove her from his shoulder, so he let her stay there, careful not to jostle her too much with any sudden movements. He feared what would happen if one of them got hurt. What if she never went back together? How would the 6 tiny Reys manage in the world? He tried not to think too much about it. He’d focus on what he could and when normal Rey came back they would talk about it. 

When he had cleaned up the crying one was still distraught over the ice cream, so he pulled out a chocolate bar out of the fridge. He didn’t eat them much, but he kept them for Rey. This just seemed to intensify the tears from the tiny sad Rey and increase the affection from the Rey on his shoulder. Although it did take the wind out of angry Rey’s sails and he made note of it, for being so tiny she was a little frightening and he swore her teeth were pointier than they really should be.

He gathered up the tiny Reys to go sit on the couch in the living room. He walked slowly so the angry one could follow on her own. For the most part the Rey’s got comfortable and he let them do their thing. The despondent one had moved some but was still staring into the void. The one that was disgusted at the mess in the kitchen was now singing loudly and out of key.

About half an hour later he noticed the room become eerily quiet and the solid weight of Rey was suddenly leaned against him on the couch as if she had been there all along. He realized then that was where the despondent Rey had been seated. He made note of that as well, to try to determine which Rey was the main Rey.

“You’re still here.” She said with a sigh of relief.

“Of course.” Like he’d leave her like that. “I have to admit I should have taken you more seriously when you said you explode.” He said gently hugging her into his side and pressing a kiss to her temple. She seemed a bit nervous.

“I’m sorry.” She bit her lip nervously. “I understand if you’ve changed your mind.” She moved as if to get up, but he held her fast.

“Why would I do that?” He had to admit he was a bit hurt that she’d think that about him. “As strange of an experience it was it doesn’t change how I feel about you.” He rushed out. He was a bit afraid that she would assume the worst and leave.

She relaxed against him no longer trying to push herself off the couch.

“People leave when they find out, I’m too much for most people.” She said sadly and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Unable to find the words but wanting to comfort her so she wouldn’t fall apart again. 

“I suppose you have questions.” She said hesitantly.

“Yes. A few, but only if you want to answer them.” He didn’t want to push her it must take a lot out of a person to explode like that.

“I think it’s only fair that I do. If this is still a relationship and we want to continue, you have a right to know things.”

He nodded he didn’t disagree with her. He considered that she did try to tell him earlier about her condition and he had brushed it off.

“How long as this been a thing?” Unable to find the proper words.

“For as long as I can remember.” She shrugged. “I had to be home schooled so nobody would know, my teenage years were rough.” He nodded, his hand rubbing her arm attempting to soothe her. “It seems if it’s someone who doesn’t know me they don’t notice, they forget. But if the person cares they remember.”

“Who else knows? Remembers?”

“Finn, since we were in foster care together. Maz, my foster mom. That’s about it really. You’re the first person I’ve trusted enough to share this with… Maz suspects that’s why my parents abandoned me though. That having an exploding child would be overwhelming for some.” He pressed her firmly against him at that. His anger bubbling again at the someone abandoning her.

“Is that why you have a job that allows you to work from home?” He said.

“Mostly, although I really had to fight get to where I am. Poe’s a good boss, he just thinks I struggle from some sort of depression, but at least he’s able to give me accommodations. It’s still a struggle sometimes and it could all be gone in an instant if anyone were to find out.” He kissed her forehead to soothe her, not wanting her to fall apart because of his clumsy questions. 

“How often does this happen?” They had been dating for 6 months and although they spent the night with each other he realized that nights at her place ended with early morning kisses while he was being shoved out the door and she always and an explanation to leave shortly after breakfast.

“I try not to let it happen very often. Usually, I have one fall apart day during my period, sometimes two. Other than that, it’s when I see something sad on TV or if I feel overwhelmed. It’s partly why I don’t have cable and pay to not have commercials on the streaming apps I do have, less surprises that way.”

“How long does it normally take you to… pull yourself back together?”

“Hmm… it varies. Sometimes 30 minutes other times it takes hours.” She hesitated before continuing. “Look, I understand if this is too much for you.” 

“It isn’t?” He thought a moment, unsure why he said it like a question. “Well, it is a lot, but not so much that... I still want to see you. It doesn’t change how I feel.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek suddenly nervous. 

“It doesn’t?” She asked skeptically.

“No.” He said with confidence and a slow smile crept across Rey’s cheeks until she was beaming. 

They saw more of each other after that. Rey became less worried about Ben seeing her sad. The little Rey’s adjusted to him, even the angry Rey tried to bite him less when he had to corral her. He still refused to leave the little Reys unattended, despite knowing that Rey could handle herself. He just didn’t like how vulnerable she was when she was sad. So, he just kept her near him and waited for the storm to pass. 

Over time the storms got shorter. Like the time they watched Homeward Bound and Rey cried at the end. Ben had remembered it as a happy ending, but Rey was already sad before the old dog crested the hill. Then all of the tiny Reys were crying and laughing through tears, the angry one just glowered at him for making them watch something so sappy.

The worst times were when Ben had made her sad. He didn’t do things on purpose, sometimes things, life, just happened. Like when he was late coming home on Finn’s birthday and he forgot to call, or when he got angry and said disparaging things about her parents for abandoning her, or the time he opened up about his complicated relationship with his own family.

It took a lot for him to stop feeling bad about things that had happened. He didn’t want to make her sad and there was no denying that he had done so when there were 6 tiny reminders. On his head, on his nightstand, in his lap. Let alone the time he needed to bandage his finger because the angry one actually broke his skin. That time he had told Rey no about getting a kitten when she moved in with him. Now they had an orange tabby named BB that slept next to him every night. That leather sofa would never be the same, but Ben didn’t care. He loved what he had with Rey and the cat wasn’t that bad.

One time, before the exploding Rey incidents started to get shorter, Rey had car troubles on the interstate. She called him in a panic of what to do and he stopped everything he was doing to go to her, his dad not far behind with the tow truck. When he got there, she was already in pieces but when she saw he had come for her she was back together before his dad could even pull up to hook up her car. 

It was like every time she realized she wasn’t alone the periods of sadness dissipated, the little Reys were less frequent visitors. But really, they were all a part of Rey. From the loud out of key singing, to the emotional eating, to the scowl and biting personality when she was angry. 

He wouldn’t trade any part of it for anything else, well he could do without the band aids and antiseptic ointment. But it was part of her whole package and something he wouldn’t change, not if it compromised the rest of her.

His exploding girlfriend would become his exploding fiancé and when she cried, he wasn’t worried. He found himself crying, too. But they were happy tears and all the little Reys showed in the full version of her and he couldn’t have been happier.


End file.
